Hero Psycho 100
by Son of Caliban
Summary: Izuku Midoriya may look weak, but he has one hell of a Quirk; and it's Katsuki Bakugou's job to make sure the rest of the world survives it.
1. Chapter One

Hero Psycho 100

 **I: Introductions**

Izuku Midoriya was a boy of a rather singular nature. There was little debate between his peers as to just what sort of child he was, and what sort of man he would be. He was small and frail, his body thin and without much muscle or fat, his deep green eyes perpetually cast in the half-lidded state of one perpetually fatigued. His fingers would twitch at random but the rest of his body would remain still in his hunched, weary posture, and his pale skin spoke of a long history of illness and an attachment to the great indoors.

Swaddled as he was in a uniform that seemed too small for him, hanging baggy and loose in spite of it being the smallest size available, he looked downright pathetic. Something to be pitied, to be protected, and in the eyes of several of the classes female students, something to be cuddled and cherished.

To Katsuki Bakugou, however, Izuku Midoriya was more than the sum of his (admittedly unimpressive) parts. Izuku Midoriya was labelled as three things in the blonde's head; 'Sidekick'. 'Confidante', and, most importantly, above all the others even though Katsuki would never himself admit it; 'Friend'. 'Responsibility' was a fourth label usually applied when Izuku, or 'Deku', as Katsuki called him was doing something stupid. Usually being himself.

Katsuki Bakugou was, at first glance, not the sort to be friends with the much smaller Izuku. Side by side, they were like two opposites cast together in a comedy film; Izuku's shy, fearful hunch forwards replaced by a confident slouch of the shoulders on Katsuki. Tangled and limp green hair contrasted by violent spikes of sandy-blonde. Trembling and unsteady hands set beside clenched fists held firm and still. And most of all, green eyes that were afraid to meet you right beside bright red orbs all too happy to look you in the eye as their owner pummeled you into dust.

Their first introduction to Class 1-A was a perfect example of this duality, this yin-yang nature that defined their lives up until that fateful day when they both took that first step across the threshold and out of the world of civilians and fans, and into the world of heroes. Izuku nearly tripped over his own feet and was caught by Katsuki's steady hand on his shoulder, before the much bigger boy picked Deku up right off the ground and held him up.

"Alright, fuckers, listen up!" Katsuki's voice was a sudden splitting shout, cutting through the murmuring and softer conversation of their new classmates and drawing all eyes straight to them. "I'm Katsuki Bakugou, and this here is Deku! His real name's Midoriya, for anyone who cares! He's really quiet and a bit of a wimp, but he's MY goddamn partner and anyone who fucks with him answers to me! Got that? If you don't, then step the fuck up and we'll settle this right here!"

Izuku, having been startled into a sort of advanced state of awakening in which outside stimuli was absorbed much easier, winced at Katsuki's introduction. Izuku's beloved Kaachan, for that was his nickname for the much stronger boy, was always loud and brash. But this was a cut above even for him, and it made Izuku just a touch nervous. But Katsuki soon set him down and Izuku was left bowing and quietly apologizing for the disturbance, leading to Katsuki slapping a hand down on his shoulder.

"Deku, stop apologizing when you didn't do anything!" Katsuki proclaimed, rolling his eyes and groaning with all the built-up exasperation he could muster. "How many times I gotta tell you I can apologize for myself if I ever actually feel like it?"

"S-sorry, Kaachan…" Izuku said, voice much softer; he was so quiet, in fact, that only Katsuki could really hear him.

The taller boy just rolled his eyes again before giving Izuku's shoulder a firmer slap and half-guiding, half-shoving him towards a pair of open desks near the middle of the room. Their path was intercepted, however, by a tall and broadly built boy in glasses with dark hair, who had his hands by his sides and was frowning disapprovingly at the both of them.

"I must insist you refrain from using such foul language in a setting such as this!" the boy declared, pointing a single accusatory finger at Katsuki. "And to speak of one of your own classmates with such vulgarity; have you no shame?"

"Fuck off." Katsuki blew the boy off with a snarl, before reaching forward and shoving him square in the chest. "Go blow it up your ass, four-eyes. You got a problem with how I talk, take it up with my private 'fucks to give' department. Gotta warn you though; whole place's been empty for years."

The boy with glasses audibly choked, before Deku looked up at him through a fallen tangle of green hair and smiled weakly, blinking.

"Sorry… Kaachan can be… loud…" the boy said, voice little more than an apologetic murmur. "He's… protective."

Katsuki scowled at the larger boy before pushing past him, shielding Deku in the crook of his arm as he shoved. Deku just followed along, still smiling weakly at the larger boy, who merely looked on with a strange expression on his face before making a 'hmph!' sound in his throat and turning away, walking back to his own desk.

"Kaachan…" Izuku said, head drooping again and his sentence breaking due to a long yawn. "Please… be nicer… to them? They… wanna be heroes… too…"

"Oughta figure out who's gonna be number one now, then," Katsuki declared, scowling at the whole class. "Or they're gonna have a bad fu… a bad time. Remember, Deku, it doesn't matter if they wanna be heroes; they've gotta prove their worth our time."

"Oh…" Izuku sounded sad at that, and that made Katsuki's chest ache just a little. A sad Izuku was a truly traumatic thing to see; he was like some unholy fusion of a kicked puppy, crying baby and lonely koala bear. "Okay…"

"Is everyone finished?"

The new voice came from the classroom door, the frame of which was currently occupied by some strange orange caterpillar-creature with a face. One of Katsuki and Izuku's new classmates shouted out in surprise, before the caterpillar's stomach was opened from inside and it fell away, revealing itself to actually be a tall, haggard looking man with long black hair ensconced within an orange sleeping bag. Katsuki rolled his eyes, realizing that the man had the same tired look as Izuku, though perhaps replacing Izuku's drowsy innocence with something more sullen.

"It took you almost thirty seconds to calm down after I showed up." the man said in a dry deadpan. "Irrational. I'm Professor Aizawa, your homeroom teacher. Get your gym uniforms on and head to the main field."

"Sir?" the tall boy with the glasses spoke up suddenly, raising a single hand. "What about the school ceremony, and the first day tour?"

"Unnecessary." Aizawa declared, turning away. "Get moving. You're in the hero course now; we don't waste time on ceremonies."

The whole class obeyed the order to get moving, rushing toward the door. Katsuki grabbed Izuku by the shoulder, pulling the drowsy boy along before he could doze off again. Izuku followed with a quiet of whine of indignation, getting his feet under him with record speed (for him).

 **II: Power**

"DIE!"

Katsuki's shout was punctuated by the sound of an explosion, even as his softball was sent hurtling off into the middle distance by a his fusion throw/blast. The rest of the class watched as the little white sphere sailed away, disappearing in the horizon, even as Aizawa raised his little stopwatch-looking measurement device and hummed softly.

"Seven-hundred-fifty-seven metres." he said, before looking at the assembled class. "For years you've been made to take these tests without your Quirks, thanks to outdated rules. Now, however, you will be expected to use your Quirks as much as the rest of your body, unless otherwise specified. A hero's Quirk is not always the most important thing about them, but it is an extremely valuable tool for anybody looking to become a hero. You will take multiple physical aptitude tests, using your Quirks to get the best possible score."

Nobody replied, but everybody looked excited. Students were muttering about the new rules, some proclaiming outright how exciting it would be. One in particular, a pink-skinned girl with horns, punched a fist in the air and declared that the exercises were going to be lots of fun. At that particular line, Professor Aizawa _changed_.

His hair rose, his eyes glowing red, and a sinister and dangerous aura suddenly surrounded him. His head tilted slightly to one side, and he directed this ominous new look straight toward the pink girl in particular.

"Fun?" Though it was phrased as a question, it came out more as a challenge. "So heroism is just fun and games to you? I see. Games have consequences, right? The student with the lowest total score…"

He scanned his eyes across all of them, and even Katsuki shuddered. The only one to not respond was Midoriya, who seemed to have dozed off.

"Will be expelled." Aizawa finished, before his hair fell and his eyes went back to normal. "So get ready to earn your right to become heroes."

Initial testing passed surprisingly quickly. Most of the students displayed particular aptitude for one or more of the exams thanks to their Quirks; a boy with six arms combined his six hands to increase his grip strength by an equal multiplier and the result was a frankly ridiculous amount of force. A boy with brown hair and unusually large lips pounded back what seemed to be a small satchel of sugar and scored an impressive score himself.

Of course, there were standouts; a boy whose hair was divided half-white, half-red utilized his ability to produce frankly ludicrous amounts of ice from nothing to skate along, scoring immensely high in every test that involved speed. The tall boy with glasses proved himself quite nimble, his Quirk giving him literal engines in his legs that allowed him to run at inhuman speeds. There was a dark-haired girl who could produce seemingly anything she wanted from her skin, and a boy with purple balls growing from his head who could bounce off them to speed himself up; particularly in the side-jump competition.

But it was Izuku Midoriya who surprised everybody. The tired boy, small and frail, whose gym uniform was baggy and loose and whom everybody seemed to think was perhaps a lost child; when presented with the grip tester, he didn't grab it. He looked at the teacher, then at Katsuki Bakugou, the explosive blonde boy. When he received a blank stare from the first and a nod from the second, he stared at the grip tester. His eyes glowed a faint white, his whole body was surrounded by a luminescent green ball of energy, and the grip tester depressed itself.

Then it crumpled with the sound snapping metal and plastic, and the boy cough and wiped his mouth and the class could see a little red mixed in with the white of his spittle. Everybody stared, wide eyed. Aizawa just jotted something down on his notebook and moved on to the next test, giving the boy a nod.

He was slow on his feet, but the green bubble allowed him to do something that could only be described as flying, sailing through the air much faster just a few inches off the ground, though he never seemed to stop by himself, always hitting the ground hard. The side jump he failed at; he couldn't use his power there, apparently it couldn't handle small, precise motions like that. His ball floated around him in a circle at an ever-increasing speed before hurtling off and scoring an identical distance to Katsuki's, which made the blonde grimace.

"Deku!" he suddenly shouted, approaching the boy with angry eyes and grabbing his shoulder, turning him around. "Stop trying to stay behind me!"

"Sorry… Kaachan…" came the meek reply, and a bowed head. Katsuki just groaned.

In the end, the lowest score belonged to the purple haired boy, named Mineta, who was given a stern glare before the teacher declared his previous statement on expulsion was actually a 'logical ruse' and that Mineta would not be going anywhere much to the audience's dismay.

 **AN: Disregard that last bit.**

The class filed back inside to get changed again, all but Izuku, who stayed outside, head bowed. Katsuki rolled his eyes as he walked past, before another blonde with spiky hair put a hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Hey dude!" he said, voice loud and clearly curious. "You alright? You look a little…"

The boy trailed off when he realized Izuku had fallen asleep standing up. Katsuki suddenly set off an explosion a few feet away and Izuku yawned, rubbing his eyes before following his friend/keeper quietly, stumbling a little. The second blonde, a young man by the name of Denki Kaminari, watched him go with raised eyebrows.

"Weird." he declared to an empty field, before realizing he was now the last one left on the field. "Hey, wait up!"

 **III: Looming Threats**

A screen showed a spinning circle of dots; a buffering symbol, loading something. The symbol turned into a play button, and a cursor clicked it once.

The video came to life instantly, displaying a rather hectic looking battle between young people in a variety of outfits and a series of green robots, of which there appeared to be three different types. The cursor slid along the screen and grabbed the play symbol, dragging it along the bar until a certain time stamp was displayed.

Click.

The video shot to life again, as several buildings in the middle of the mock city exploded with a hail of dust and rubble. From the ruins a massive green machine, some fifty metres high stomped into the light, eight eyes on a rectangular face scanning the city. Screams were audibleC the sight of people fleeing, children running from the great monster. The camera zoomed and focused again, revealing several students trapped by debris.

The robot stomped forward, either malicious or oblivious, raising a massive metal fist and smashing another building into so many chunks of concrete. The street buckled and cracked beneath its tread; it was a true monster. The trapped students screamed in fear, one of their number pinned beneath a fallen slab of concrete and several others equally stuck. There were three in total.

The giant robot pressed on forwards, the rising haze of dust obscuring it ever so slightly. There was a brilliant green light emanating from somewhere off screen, some emerald glow casting deep dark shadows across the streets. The robot stomped onto the street again, a step or two from the students.

Something intercepted it's next step, it's foot hovering above the students but unable to move. Metal creaked under pressure, and the robots eight red eyes tracked something rising from ground level into the air. The camera turned and zoomed in on that. A figure in a bubble of green light, small and frail, in a loose posture with hands limp by its side. A head lolled on a limp neck and two eyes of pure white were visible in the moment before the camera burst into static.

The video continued in static for less than a minute, leaving the viewer with only audio. The sound of metal screaming in agony under monstrous duress, a sound unlike sound that was all at once an electronic wail, a violin's screech and strangely enough, the sound of a kazoo. The sound of silence, the audio feed too cutting out.

Then, the camera cut back in suddenly, revealing the enormous machine to still be standing, but utterly changed. The upper half twisted and bent and warped by some unknown force, like it had been pushed and pulled by a hundred monstrously strong hands all at once. All eight metal eyes had exploded, leaving behind black holes in its great brick of a head. It shuddered and slowly collapsed backwards, toppling to the ground with steady fall of something seized by gravity's cruel clutch.

The video ended. The cursor grabbed the little dot on the bar and dragged it backwards again, to the moment where the camera was watching the floating figure. Paused, just before the static. Rewound a little more. Slowed the video, to a single frame per second. Watching. Glowing eyes of white. An aura of green light. Monstrous power.

A man leaned away from a computer screen, gnarled old hands folded together in front of him. A loose smile graced a face that had many reasons now to smile.

"How old is this?" he asked, in a rasping voice.

"Several weeks, sir." the man behind him said, his English roughly accented by Russian origins. "This is the first time this Quirk has been recorded."

"He is, perhaps, the one..." a woman's voice said, it's owner cocking her hips slightly as she grinned. "This could be good news, sir."

"It is." the man before the screen said, nodding once. "Volk, alert Khan and Gremlin. You will go to Japan at once, and find the boy. Seeker, inform Ptolemy he will be busy soon."

"At once." the Russian said, turning away. "May I bring Alleycat as well?"

"No." the old man shook his head. "We need her elsewhere."

The Russian saluted, before leaving the room. The woman, Seeker, bowed her head and disappeared herself, through the same door. The man turned his attention back to the still image on the screen, to those white eyes and that glow, and that green hair...

"Izuku Midoriya..." he said the name softly, like a secret. "Yes... Curious. Curious indeed..."

 **CALIBAN'S CORNER**

 **(Author's Note, Actually)**

 **Mob Psycho 100 II is out and is freaking great and I thought to myself after this season "Hey, Mob and Deku are almost nothing alike but for some reason feel similar" before I realized Deku's the final form of the Shounen protagonist and Mob is sort of the ultimate anti-Shounen-protagonist and opposites are the same and basically I said 'so what if Deku was that murderously OP?' and then rewrote most of My Hero Academia's backstory to better suit this new reality.**

 **So yes, Bakugou and Deku are friends. Because of reasons you'll discover later but for now I'm only going to hint at because it's fun not infodumping in chapter one and letting your audience guess.**

 **If the formatting is weird, I apologize; I'm experimenting with a style that's easier for me to manage since I suck at timeskips and scene jumps and want to be able to bend time and space at my leisure. Hence the scene labels. Also this way I can dodge writing things I suck at (long descriptions of surroundings and travel scenes) and get right into what I like to think I'm good at (dialogue, character interaction and all that sweet snazzy action). I can also skip parts of the anime/manga literally everybody knows and stuff that bores me so I can stay on track and not lose interest like I usually do.**

 **Mineta redemption side-arc, nerds! I don't want to discard characters out of hand because people don't like them; I want to try and make you like them. And while that's a bit of a Herculean task with Mineta… well, that's half the fun!**

 **OC villains? What? Yeah, that's… I like OCs. Even if they're all actually mostly expies besides a few, but that's fine. This whole story's basis is giving Deku a Quirk that is an expy from Mob Psycho 100.**

 **So, I hope you all enjoyed, and tune in next time when we handle PROBLEMS.**


	2. Chapter Two

**IV: THROUGH THE DOOR!  
**  
"Kaachan...?" Izuku's voice was as quiet as ever, and Katsuki turned to him.

"What?"

"Is... is All Might really... gonna be here?" Izuku asked, eyes full of something like excitement, dulled by his usual weariness. "Really?"

"He sent us our freakin' acceptance letters, Deku, of course he's gonna be here!" Katsuki said, rolling his eyes. "Who else could teach us heroism anyways, huh? If I'm gonna be number one, I'm gonna have to learn from the best!"

"N-not if... if I get there... first..." Deku replied, shaking his head. "You can... be my number two!"

"You think I wanna be anything like Endeavour?" Neither boy noticed their heterochromatic classmate twitch at the mention of the current number two hero. "It's All Might or bust, Deku! And don't you ever forget it!"

He pointed a challenging finger right at Izuku's face, grinning his trademark manic grin before Izuku poked his finger back, making a little explosion sound and smiling his own frail little smile. Katsuki laughed, pulling his hand back, and moments later the classroom door slid open with a great crashing sound.

"I AM-" The voice of the number one hero, the Pillar of Peace, had the entire class on the edges of their seats. "COMING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!"

All Might shuffled inside, beaming his trademark heroic smile with his hands on his hips, clenched in fists, and the entire classroom went nuts.

"It's really him!"

"All Might!"

"Holy crap!"

"Is that his silver age costume?"

"No way!"

"He came!"

"All Might!"

"ALL MIGHT!"

Katsuki gave Izuku a side-eye glance. The boy was shuffling in his seat, eyes wide and shocked. For once in his life, he looked totally awake, not a hint of drowsiness on his face. Katsuki smiled, an real and honest smile of happiness. His Deku was happy. Good. That meant that he didn't need to worry. Izuku's eyes were also glowing a little, and his pencils and pencil case were all levitating a few inches from the desk, but that was normal when he got excited.

At least HE was still in the chair. Mostly.

"HELLO, STUDENTS!" All Might proclaimed, voice booming. "YES, I AM HERE, TO TEACH YOU HOW TO BE HEROES! BUT PLEASE, CALM DOWN!"

The class settled down... mostly. Izuku was still floating his writing utensils and there was a strange scent of ozone in the air as Kaminari's whole body twitched and occasionally sparked, but besides that things calmed down pretty handily.

"I AM HERE TO TEACH HEROICS ONE-OH-ONE, WHERE YOU WILL LEARN THE BASICS OF BEING HEROES!" All Might continued, still smiling that big smile. "SO, TO START OFF, WE HAVE A LITTLE GIFT FOR YOU! AT THE BACK OF THE CLASSROOM YOU WILL FIND TWENTY METAL CASES WITH YOUR NAMES ON THEM, CONTAINING YOUR HERO COSTUMES! PLEASE PUT THEM ON AND MEET ME AT TRAINING GROUND BETA!"

And with that, All Might was off, and the rest of the class was up and moving. Metal cases were grabbed by eager hands and most of the students took off something just short of a sprint after their teacher.

Katsuki put a hand on Izuku's shoulder, snapping the boy out of his hero-worship reverie and back into the real world. He smiled up at Katsuki, standing up and yawning once, loudly. Apparently, almost half a minute of complete lucidity was exhausting to him. At this point, that didn't even remotely surprise Katsuki; there seemed to be little that didn't sap away Izuku's already paltry reserves of energy with alarming speed.

"Ready, Deku?" he asked, and Izuku just nodded once before they both headed to the back of classroom, grabbed their boxes, and made their exit.

 **V: Potential**

Shouta Aizawa was a naturally curious man. His curiosity was born in part of his role as a hero, for what was a hero who did not know his enemy, and in part of some lower-case-q quirk of the mind. He had studied many heroes and villains in his youth, thrown himself into the topics of Quirk Studies and Biology so he might better understand this state of superhuman normality where the average man could do something thought of as amazing a mere century after such feats were thought impossible.

He folded his arms and pondered his students, reclining in his favoured seat in the staff lounge, a small overstuffed dark blue armchair that sat in the corner, away from the couches. It was a good place to think. He pondered Mezo Shoji, whose monstrous form seemed undercut by a quiet and reserved personality. He pondered Tsuyu Asui, who was infinitely more mature than even some of her teachers here at UA. He pondered Katsuki Bakugou, so full of potential both heroic and villainous that left him balancing a razor edge between confidence and superiority.

And most of all, he pondered Izuku Midoriya, who had been brought to the school with a sealed record and a permanent order to keep an eye on him at all times, delivered by the Japanese government less than an hour after they had received his application.

Such cases of oversight were not unheard of; some Quirks were seen as extremely dangerous, and for good reason, and as such the government was often forced to intervene in such cases to prevent accidental mortalities as children with the powers of gods awoke their latent abilities. Just a few years ago in Russia a young girl had manifested a quirk that saw her kill forty-seven people when their shadows ate them alive. Now, she was supposedly 'in therapy', though Aizawa was quite certain that was Novyi Soviet code for 'brainwashing'.

They had accepted Midoriya's application. And then Izuku Midoriya had turned a zero-pointer robot into so much scrap metal seemingly without moving. Hence why the boy had been placed in Aizawa's class; Psycho 100, as a Quirk, was too powerful to be put anywhere else. If Midoriya wanted to, he could demolish a city. At his current strength, he could probably kill All Might with minimal effort. Aizawa was their contingency plan there; that and the more subtle measures the government had already taken.

The boy's next door neighbour in their apartment building was a government agent, tasked with abducting his mother should Izuku Midoriya ever go rogue and decide villainy was an appealing course of action. And, should that plan fail... well, though the government's elite 'Shinigami' kill teams were thought of as mere myth, a few too many truly dangerous villains just up and vanished from the face of the earth for Aizawa to be anything but skeptical of their nonexistence.

His father's black-line-filled daily letters, sudden and mysterious death and state funeral all helped greatly with that.

God willing, none of these courses of action would be necessary. Izuku Midoriya would become the hero Aizawa could already see him becoming, a hero to rival not just All Might but old legends like Chevalier and Ronin, Zeus and Melchizedek. The Old Heroes, the ones who made the world they all lived in today. Aizawa wanted that for the boy; his potential was almost limitless, his weary exterior a shell hiding the brightest star his teacher had seen in years of teaching.

Izuku Midoriya could be a great hero. But first, Aizawa had to make him one. And so he pondered, and considered, plotted and planned. He was no equal to the headmaster by any means, but he could dream up a good scheme just about any day. Most underground heroes could, but Aizawa was especially skilled at it. His Quirk's sometimes underwhelming nature and his otherwise very normal human potential in a fight made that advanced skill a necessity.

The boy seemed physically weak. That was a debatable issue, as that would rarely come up unless he had to fight Aizawa or someone with a Quirk like Erasure. But it would still need to be rectified; better to be prepared for nothing than to fail to be ready for something.

Izuku also lacked drive when it came to some things. The boy was obviously determined to be a hero, or else he wouldn't have bothered coming to UA. But in the previous day's exercise he had seemed lethargic... and this morning had been much the same. Aizawa wondered if there was some sort of insomnia or other issues there.

The fact that Izuku was apparently a natural genius made handling schoolwork easier; he had eaten the written entry exam alive, scoring a ninety-seven percent. But Aizawa would need to be on the lookout for slipping grades; he couldn't let the boy fail there, not when he had so much potential.

And so it all came back full circle. Izuku Midoriya had potential. Great towering piles of it, just waiting to to be mined for the many positives that could be drained from their depths. He had a real shot at potentially replacing All Might one day as Pillar of Peace, but that was dependent on Aizawa training him up the right way.

No pressure, of course.

 **VII: Pre-Game Pep Talk  
**  
"Kaachan...?" Izuku's voice was hesitant, as was the hand on Katsuki's shoulder. Katsuki turned regardless; he wasn't going to ignore Izuku just because he was being quiet, otherwise he'd have to pretend Izuku wasn't real.

"What, Deku?" his usual aggression was toned down, something his classmates had observed always happened when Katsuki was addressing Izuku. "Something wrong?"

"N-no, but..." Izuku's eyes darted all around the assembled class, before he leaned in closer. "I'm scared."

"Scared of what?" Katsuki looked around too; folding his arms. "Is somebody fu- messing with you?"

"No..." Izuku pressed the tips of his index and middle fingers on both hands together in front of him, putting pressure on them as he spoke. "It's just... Kaachan, what if I hurt someone? A-again...?"

Katsuki rolled his eyes, giving Izuku a slap on the shoulder as he turned his gaze back to the class. He used a hand to guide Izuku's vision as well, turning his head toward the class.

"Look at 'em, Deku," he said, grinning manically. "Really look at them. These might be the first real opponents we've ever had, way tougher than those losers back in middle school. We can mess 'em up as much we want, because they can take it and do the same to us. So don't hold back, Deku; or I'll kick your butt myself."

Izuku just nodded, hesitant at first before he began swinging his chin up and down like he was trying to headbutt a particularly angry ghost.

"Okay, Kaachan!" he said, quiet voice now sounding a little more energetic. "I'll kick their... their butts!"

"That's all I ask." Katsuki agreed, grinning. "Now let's get in this before All Might notices us slackin'."

Katsuki took in the sight of their classmates as the two joined the group, noting several rather unique costumes. A figure who could only be Four-Eyes was dressed like some sort of Gundam-reject (Izuku loved those series, though Katsuki preferred Evangelion for the gore), the sparkly blonde fucker was in some sort of knight get-up with a cape and everything, and for some reason the electricity fuckboy was wearing a leather jacket and a headset.

Katsuki took in his own grenade gauntlets, orange top and black highlights, and chuckled. Then he gave Izuku's costume a glance, and grinned. His little buddy was all decked out in a pine-green cloak covering his body from neck to ankle, with a tall green collar that hid his face. It let Izuku conceal his small size a little, but was open at the front so he could reach out and do funky telekinetic shit with his hands if he needed.

Underneath the cloak, he was wearing a simple white shirt and black dress slacks, as well as the bronze dragon's head pendant his mother had given him. Apparently it was a memento of Izuku's dad, something he had left her before disappearing while on a supposed 'business trip'. Katsuki wasn't convinced he hadn't just up and run off, though; something about Izuku's dad had always seemed real shifty, even to his little five year old brain.

It was a real nice (and cool looking) pendant though, and it made Izuku feel safe. So it could stay.

"ALRIGHT, STUDENTS, YOU ALL LOOK WONDERFUL!" One thing TV and internet videos tended to hide a little was just how fucking LOUD All Might could get, Katsuki noted. "OUR FIRST LESSON WILL BE..."

There was a momentary pause for build up.

"COMBAT TRAINING!"

The class went nuts with questions. Mostly confused 'what about the basics' and shit like that. Katsuki just grinned. He and Izuku didn't need the basics; they were fit to steamroll these fuckers. They'd been training for years! Well... Katsuki had been training for years, while Izuku tried not to collapse into sleep. But still, they had this in the bag!

All Might calmed the panicking pussies down with some reassurances and shit and gave them the rundown; ten teams of two, randomly selected, for two on two hero-on-villain action. There would be a fake bomb for an objective, villains defending and heroes capturing. Bakugou just laughed; kiddy shit! He could handle any four of these fucks alone, even the angsty-ice-cube-machine and four eyes! Some of his classmates gave him the stink eye, and he gave them the finger. See if he gave a fuck.

"K-Kaachan..." Izuku seemed nervous, though, so Katsuki toned down the confidence a little. "W-what if we're on different teams?"

"Easy!" Katsuki laughed. "You whoop a couple of losers and I whoop a couple of losers! And if we face each other... well..."

He grinned.

"Only room for one at the top, Deku." he said, feeling a little elated at Izuku's return smile. "So square up and let's handle this. Gonna have to carry some of these extras either way."

"EACH OF YOU WILL TAKE A CARD!" All Might said, holding out a small box filled with paper slips. "EACH HAS A NUMBER FROM ONE TO TEN; MATCHING NUMBERS WILL FORM TEAMS! WHOSE FIRST?"

First up was four eyes, and he snagged a three. Next up, Katsuki grabbed a nine, and was followed by the weird frog chick who drew a two. Canister-elbows grabbed an eight, and right after him the punk rock looking girl grabbed another two, making them the first team. Bird-head plucked a three and rolled his eyes, which looked fucking weird on a bird, before standing next to four eyes.

Big lips took a seven. Ice-cube snagged a ten, the first. Then the chick who made the cannon pop out of her tits yesterday pulled a nine and looked at Katsuki, who just groaned. Figured he'd get stuck with the walking eye candy. Although, if she could make a fucking cannon out of nowhere... well, that shit could come in handy. Then went the electric fuckboy, grabbing the first four.

The chick with round cheeks in a weird space suit (what the fuck?) grabbed the first five, followed by a guy with a tail in a karate gi who took the second seven and stood next to big-lips. The little purple ball fucker who almost flunked yesterday grabbed an eight and stood off to the side, before a floating pair of gloves grabbed the second eight right after.

Wait... was she naked?

Katsuki didn't have time to consider that. The pink chick with horns grabbed a six, and the quiet kid with a rock head (what the frontflipping fuck?) snagged a one and went to the frog girl, smiling a very Izuku-like smile. Captain (or Sir) sparkles grabbed a ten and gave ice-cube a big happy smile, while ice-cube just said nothing and looked all broody and shit. What a loser, Katsuki decided.

The six armed guy was up next, drawing the second five and stood next to the space-suit chick. Huh. The space adventurer and her alien pal. Izuku fucking loved some western game like that once. Then Izuku stepped up, reaching into the box. Six.

He looked at the pink girl, who gave him a big thumbs up and a grin. Izuku just looked at Katsuki, who nodded once, mouthing 'carry her ass'. Izuku blushed, before joining his partner. That left the redhead with the muscles, who grabbed the last number, a four, and joined the electric fuckboy.

Katsuki cracked his knuckles as matchups were announced, All Might giving them one of his massive grins.

One versus Seven.

Two versus Three.

Four versus Eight.

Five versus Six.

And Nine versus Ten.

Katsuki gave ice-cube a mocking smile and got nothing but a deadpan stare. Boring as shit.

Well, at least he'd get to blow some shit up today. That was a start. 


	3. Chapter Three

**VII: Zap.  
**  
"Alright, so I have a plan, and I promise it's awesome, but I'm gonna run it by you first so you can figure out if you like it."

Kaminari Denki preferred to stay open to feedback; years of over-estimating his own abilities had led to an equal number of years spent failing to win at much of anything. His overall success rate was rather middling at this point, and he didn't want to ruin that record any further. As such, he had discovered the value of teamwork rather early, even if he still preferred to be the face of said team. After all, if he was being honest with himself; he had a pretty handsome face.

It helped that his teammate was giving him a seriously confident grin with those pointy shark teeth. He liked that sort of enthusiasm, particularly in a teammate. Helped that he was a big guy, obviously a gym enthusiast of some sort. He gave him his trademark lightning bolt grin, perfect teeth (thanks, genetics!) gleaming as he shot him double finger guns.

"Alright!" he sounded pretty excited already, but Kaminari figured his stunning charisma and confidence had bolstered his spirits at least a little more. "What's the plan?"

"So, basically, I'm a walking stun gun, and those guys don't have much combat ability." Kaminari explained, letting a little bit of lightning dance along his fingers as he spoke. "So the plan is, I rush them, give 'em a good ol' one-two taser grab and then watch them go down. Sound cool?"

"And where do I come in here?" his partner asked. "I can take hits like nobody else, so you should be able to rely on me to bait them out without much risk."

"That's perfect!" Kaminari's grin grew, and he leaned in closer. "That Hakagure girl's invisible, right? So we'll have to watch out for that. Give me a hand moving these boxes, so we can block off the doors, and we'll just leave on open! I'll hide, you stand guard in the open, and bait them into coming after you!"

"And then you jump them with the electric shock stuff, and we win!" Kirishima gave him a high five hard enough to leave his palm stinging painfully, before looking toward the doors. "Sounds totally villainous... and Manly! Super sneaky and clever! I love it! Let's do it!"

They wasted no time in pushing the boxes to cover the various doors, Kirishima's ample strength proving more than up to the task. Kaminari took up his position by the door, even as All Might (freaking All Might!) called through the communicators that the clock was starting and the match had begun.

Kirishima stood with arms crossed in the middle of the room, squarely placed in front of the door and the bomb both. He had his giant grin on, occasionally rolling his shoulders or cracking his neck as he prepared for the coming fight.

So they waited. And waited. Kaminari kept an ear to the wall, but he could hear anything. Nothing at all; it was confusing. Where were the heroes? He glanced at Kirishima and waggled his eyebrows, the redhead just shrugging.

"Two minutes remaining." All Might suddenly said, and Kirishima coughed awkwardly.

Kaminari turned in his costume's special earpiece, tapping it twice to tune in to the radio signals. He couldn't hear the hero team communicating on any of the current channels, but he did pick up a Present Mic's twenty-four-seven channel, currently playing some rock piece that sounded pretty wicked.

"Yo, Kirishima!" he called, tapping his earpiece once to feed the music into their shared communication.

Kirishima grinned, bopping his head in time with the riff, even as they waited.

Then, just after All Might gave the one minute warning, a small black and purple shape darted through the door sliding across the floor. Kirishima gave it a glance, and raised his fists when he realized it was the purple-ball kid. Kaminari ran through a list of names... Mineta. Right, that guy. The weirdo.

There were blood trails under his nose and all down his chin; what the hell? Had somebody decked him one? Who? His own partner? What the hell was up with that?

He began charging an electric blast, his right hand cracking with dancing tendrils of voltaic energy. Kirishima gave him a single nod, moving forward to grab Mineta's still form.

Then Kaminari felt a fist impact his face, and staggered backwards evenly as he blindly lashed out with his charged electric energy in an arc of yellow lightning. There was a yelp of surprise and then something fell to the floor with a dull thud, before Mineta suddenly jumped up and threw several of his purple balls at Kirishima while screaming.

"Get him!" A guitar solo opened up through the music channel as Kirishima grabbed Mineta in a bear hug, his skin changing to get all weird and rock-like. The boy grunted as Mineta struggled, but it was a midget with sticky balls on his scalp against the world's most muscular rock, and it was clear to Kaminari who was going to win.

"Both heroes have been... neutralized, so VILLAINS WIN!" All Might declared over the loudspeaker, and Kaminari just felt a sense of anti-climax descend on him even as Kirishima released Mineta, careful not to touch any of the boy's purple projectiles.

Kaminari sighed, sliding his hands into his pockets, head drooping as the song in his ear ended. What kind of intro to heroism was this supposed to be?

 **VIII: Friend?  
**  
"Group F: Izuku Midoriya and Mina Ashido against Group E: Mezo Shoji and Ochaco Uraraka!"

Izuku hadn't quite dozed off again, but he had drifted off into thought and as such those words made him stiffen up suddenly, a little choked sound escaping his throat as he looked up from the floor to see All Might smiling at him, beckoning him forwards.

He stepped forwards, as commanded, and looked at his partner. She was taller than him (not saying much, as EVERYBODY in 1-A was taller than him), with pink skin, horns poking out from underneath lighter pink hair and a surprisingly mature body for a fifteen year old. She gave him a big smile and a thumbs up, and he managed to give her a gentle nod.

"Man, looks like I lucked out!" she said. "I get the crazy strong wizard kid! This is gonna be a breeze!"

"W-wizard...?" Izuku asked, but the girl didn't even seem to hear him as she put a hand on his shoulder and bent down to lean in closer to him.

"So, what's the plan, partner?" she asked, before suddenly looking all around them. "Wait, not yet! Let's head to our evil fortress, first!"

She led him through the door to the building they were apparently supposed to use as a base, in which could be found their personal bomb they were intended to protect. She seemed rather excited already, practically jumping up the stairs, taking them three steps at a time. He followed behind, but he noted that when he fell more than a flight behind she would wait for him.

"So, partner, what's the plan?" she asked, slinging an arm over his shoulders as they walked down the hallway to their bomb, in the fourth floor. "You wanna ambush them, or take up a defensive position, or just rush them at the door? I'm good with anything, honestly; your Quirk will probably win the fight by itself!"

She laughed, and Izuku swallowed. It was probably true; Psycho 100 was a Quirk if the highest tier, comparable to the Quirks of All Might, Endeavour and Best Jeanist in terms of raw power. Just the plasma bubble would be enough to make him a truly powerful hero, but the telekinesis was almost ludicrously strong. He still didn't have the best handle on it, but...

"Give it a few years and you'll be stronger than almost everyone!" Katsuki laughed, before slapping him on the back and grinning. "But not better than me, Deku. You'd better believe it, or I'll kick your a... butt too."

"M-maybe... defend the bomb...?" he said, uncertain. "L-let them come and... and force them into a fight on... on our t-terms. W-what's your Quirk, Ashido?"

She gave him a big smile; he was surprised she hadn't said anything about the stuttering and volume. Most people immediately asked him what was wrong; maybe she was just trying to be polite. It was working, in part; Izuku felt more comfortable with her, for some reason. Her energy was like Katsuki, but more... pure. Less ruthless and more boundless, maybe.

"Alright!" She gave him another thumbs up. "My Quirk is Acid; I can secrete acid from my skin, and I can choose the strength and thickness. I can make it watery, or thick like jello, or like a sort of paste. I usually make it sort of gluey though. It can melt almost anything at higher strengths, even me if I'm not careful!"

"Oh..." Izuku gave it some thought. "C-could you make it super... super weak, so it's just slippery?"

"Yeah!" she replied, holding up one foot. "I do that all the time to skate around on anything! What do you want me to do with it?"

"Make... make the floor in front of the d-door slippery, so they... lose their balance when they come in." he said. "Grabbing people without... without hurting them is hard, but I can... knock them over."

"And then I rush in and pin them!" she exclaimed, punching a fist in the air. "I love it! Oh, this is gonna be great! You're super smart, Midoriya!"

Izuku blushed at that thought, looking at the floor and swallowing. Ashido just giggled, before heading for the main door and spraying her weakest acid all over it in a slimy coat.

"Maybe we should hit the lights?" she asked. "So they can't see the slime, and it'll blind them a little. But our eyes'll adjust, right?"

Izuku nodded, channeling Psycho 100 and reaching for the main light fixture, two rows of fluorescent lights. He gripped them, eyes glowing and a thin bubble of plasma forming, pulling them down. They snapped from their fixtures, plunging the room into darkness besides Izuku's bubble, before he threw them to the sides of the room, where they blocked the two other doors.

"Perfect!" Ashido said, voice falling to a whisper. "Can you... turn that off?"

Izuku nodded, letting his Quirk fade and watching the bubble disappear. His eyes began the adjustment process, as Ashido finished spraying the floor and took a step back.

"Alright!" she said, voice still hushed. "Mission complete! What now, Midoriya?"

"Hide," he said, not needing to change his voice at all. "Sh-Shoji can make ears and eyes... so he might be able to hear us. Stay quiet, unless you... you need to talk."

"Okay!" he heard Ashido race to go hide behind some cover. "Just give the signal when it's time to go!"

Midoriya nodded, and then realized this wouldn't be clear to her, so he whispered an affirmative before ducking down behind a wooden box himself.

Meanwhile, outside the building and indeed outside the training ground entirely, a certain Katsuki Bakugou was watching the screen with a frown that was closer to a scowl, teeth clenched and eyes narrowed. He didn't like the pink bitch; she was getting up in Deku's space, fucking with him. Deku didn't do 'close quarters' with anyone who wasn't his mom, Bakugou and Bakugou's family. Everybody else was dangerous.

Bakugou was one of the few who one of Psycho 100's limits and downsides; he knew about the insomnia, the bodily deficiencies, the weakened bone structure. Izuku Midoriya was a boy strong in his soul and mind but weak just about everywhere else, this had been drilled into Bakugou's head over years of friendship and watching over the little guy. This knowledge made him nervous; Izuku was up against some pretty tough opponents.

That six armed guy could take anybody in class apart in close combat, he was pretty sure, and who knew what the round-faced girl could do with the power to fuck with goddamn GRAVITY. That was fucked, and Izuku was probably also screwed if he couldn't handle himself properly. And without Bakugou there...

No. Izuku was strong. Strong in his soul and his mind; he had a plan for sure, and even as Bakugou thought about this he saw the pink bitch spraying her weird goo all over the floor in front of the door even as Izuku tore the lights from the ceiling. Of course, he never should have underestimated his best friend. No matter how easy it was to assume Izuku was floundering or panicking, he was usually able to rein in his emotions. Psycho 100 made that a necessity, unless Izuku wanted to…

Katsuki stopped thinking about that and focused on the here and now. The bubbly girl, Round Face, and the tentacle-hentai guy were creeping up the stairs. Tentacles was a big guy, and his arms were plenty strong if yesterday's tests were anything to go by, and Round Face was all sorts of fucked because who in the fuck can fuck with gravity? Shit should be illegal as far Katsuki was concerned. Gravity was sacred. Gravity and spicy curry. Fuck death and taxes, those were the only two universal constants Katsuki gave a flying fuck about.

"Yo, Bakugou, who do you think wins?" There was the amazing electric fuckboy, fresh from his shitty fucking victory, walking up to Katsuki with a dumb grin on his face. "Midoriya seems pretty strong, but the other team has Uraraka and she can do that anti-gravity thing. Can you imagine what they'll come up with?"

"Deku's got this boring stuff done already." Katsuki retorted, rolling his eyes. "Ain't just power with him; he can wipe the floor with any of you losers. Only two people in the world he can't beat, and one of 'em's standing right here."

The fuckboy seemed to take offence at that, leaning back with his arms crossed. Katsuki just laughed, looking back at the screens. Izuku was still hiding in the darkness, the pink bitch hiding in the other end of the room. The only light was coming from the open door, which was suddenly obscured by a large, multi-limbed shadow. There was the tentacle-hentai guy… but where was the gravity bitch?

"Watch this shit!" he called, pointing at the screen as tentacle-hentai walked into the room, scanning back and forth with two additional eyes and an ear. He faltered when his boots fell upon the slime, before suddenly whirling to the right to look at the pink bitch.

He turned his two extra arms into hands, giving him four arms for combat, and rushed forward, before a green glow filled the room. Izuku was moving, floating up and out of his cover, eyes glowing. Tentacle-hentai ate shit, falling flat on his face. Katsuki recognized the move; Burden. Izuku dreamt it up with Katsuki's help; apply force to the top and push down, not hard enough to crush but with consistent strength. Katsuki had felt that weight before; it hurt like a bitch to push back against, but Izuku knew when to keep it even and stop applying it.

"Tentacles is done for fucking dinner." Katsuki declared, before another shape filled the doorway, tentacle-hentai calling out a warning. "And now round-face is next."

The pink bitch was moving, rushing the gravity chick, and in the light of the doorway a fight broke out. It was short; pink bitch went for a haymaker only to get dodged and outplayed, an open-handed slap on the stomach making her weightless. Gravity chick pushed her up, into the air, only for her to suddenly move toward Deku.

Multiple targets; Katsuki's teeth clenched. This was where shit got dicey. Izuku has trouble managing his power appropriately; tentacles was in a bit of danger now, not that Izuku would ever hurt the poor loser. The pink bitch shouted something, and Izuku nodded weakly, a trickling line of red falling down his face from one nostril. Katsuki's teeth clenched harder than before.

"Fucking shit…" he grunted, before Izuku suddenly threw the pink bitch at gravity chick, who looked surprised when she was suddenly impacted by a big pink missile with tits. "There you go, fuckwads. Deku wins."

The pink bitch was good at grappling, pinning the gravity chick to the floor despite her weightlessness, before putting her in a wicked looking arm-bar. Izuku still had tentacle-hentai pinned, and there was an audible sound of surprise from All-Might, before he was on the intercoms.

"VILLAINS WIN!" he declared, Katsuki chuckling.

"Fucking called it." he said, turning toward the assembled students of the hero course and hiking a thumb over his shoulder at the screens, all displaying a victorious villain team. "There you go, fuckwads! Deku and I are gonna be number one, and ass-kickings are free for anybody dumb enough to disagree!"


	4. Aside: League of Villains

**IX: Party Building**

There were two men standing in a pipe, one dressed in the white shirt and black vest of a bartender, with a head seemingly made wholly of black and purple fog with two glowing white eyes. Beside him stood the other, a tall and lank young man dressed all in black, posture hunched and hands in his pockets, features concealed by a mask made of a grasping white hand holding on to his face.

The pipe itself was a fairly unsanitary sort of environment, formerly the outflow pipe of an old, now abandoned chemical production facility. Years ago this same pipe had flowed with waste materials toxic and crude, but now it was dark and dank and more than a little odorous to the lanky man's nose. He very much wanted to destroy this place, but he knew his compatriot would protest and, more importantly, his master would be displeased. And the displeasure of his master was something the boy was very much afraid of.

Because his master wanted something inside that pipe, something rather unique and useful to their mission. And if there was one thing the lanky boy understood, it was missions. This thing at his feet, this curled up form, was apparently a very powerful companion, one that could assist him in the upcoming boss raid. A potent DPS, though from their frail appearance they were likely somewhat of a glass cannon. The lanky man could work with that, even sympathize to some extent. But given his frustration, sympathy was the furthest thing from his mind at that moment.

"So this trash is what Sensei wanted us to pick up?" Tomura Shigaraki's voice was not a kind one; he was staring at the curled up form with an upper lip curled and red eyes narrowed in disdain. "What the hell does he want it for?"

"I believe it is a she, Tomura Shigaraki." The other man in the pipe replied. "This is the one Sensei called Hanaka. Perhaps you should address her directly?"

Tomura sneered, staring down at the young girl. She was tiny, frail and weak, long black hair hanging in a stinking mop, covering her from scalp to the base of her spine, falling over her face and head to cover her knees. Her arms, skinny as sticks, were wrapped around her shins. Her hands were covered by black gloves, far larger than she likely needed and hiding her hands all the way up to the middles of her forearms.

Tomura kicked her in the leg and she made a quiet murmuring sound, a whimper under her breath, before curling up tighter. His sneer turned to a scowl, and the man with the hand on his face leaned down, hands still in his pockets.

"Hey!" he said, far louder than necessary. "We're talking about you! Pay attention!"

She murmured something that Tomura couldn't make out and the boy groaned aloud, before kicking her again and looking at the fog man. The well-dressed cloud of gaseous material simply shrugged; his master, whom he shared with Tomura, had instructed him to let young Shigaraki handle the recruitment himself.

"Ugh..." Tomura rolled his eyes, before crouching down in front of the girl, hands leaving his pockets and revealing his rather odd accessory choice, gloves that covered his palms and only one finger on each hand. "Stupid recruitment quests... if she infodumps her backstory I'm not listening."

The gaseous man shrugged again. His young ward rarely made any sort of sense.

Tomura took another long look at the girl; her fingernails were painted, he noticed, left done in black and right in white. Weird. Had she done that herself? In this crappy pipe?

"Hey, kid, pay attention." he tapped her knee and she whimpered again, before her head moved slightly.

A single eye peered out at Shigaraki, bloodshot and rheumy. Was the girl sick? Tomura made a face; he wasn't dealing with sick kids. He wouldn't even be dealing with a kid at all if Sensei hadn't told him to. He gave the kid something that tried to be a smile but looked more like a leer.

"Hello there," he tried again. "You paying attention now?"

She murmured some non-affirmation and he groaned, rolling his eyes.

"Great." he took a moment to figure out what to say. "So... you look like shit."

The girl murmured something again, and Tomura laughed aloud, amused.

"Well, at least you know." he peered at the girl again. "My name's Tomura. Are you Hanaka? The chick with the disease-hand Quirk or whatever?"

The girl whimpered again, head falling, and Tomura groaned in frustration, falling back onto his ass with his arms propped up on his knees. Fuck. This was so BORING. He could be playing through one of his games right now, or finalizing his attack plan on UA. Instead he was here, wasting his time on some short-stack who couldn't even answer a simple fucking question.

Wait. Short-stack. This was a kid. What the fuck did kids like?

"Hey, Kurogiri," he addressed his fog-figured associate, looking up at him. "You have any candy or something?"

Kurogiri shook his head, a peculiar gesture for a man whose head was little more than vapours of dark gas. Temura groaned again, before looking at the little girl. He snapped his fingers and she looked up again between her knees, peering at him from behind the thick veil of her hair.

"Hey, kid, you want some candy?" he asked. The girl just stared, blinking a couple of times. "Right. Fuck it. Kurogiri, go get some candy. Chocolate or something."

"Chocolate...?" Suddenly, there was a weak little voice speaking, little more than a whisper, and Tomura had to double check to see that it had come from the girl and not some ghost or something.

"Yeah, chocolate." he said, looking at her. "You like chocolate?"

She nodded, slowly, cautiously. Tomura sighed with relief, standing up again and cracking his back, before peering down at the girl again. She had followed his movements with her eyes, and was slowly beginning to unfurl herself. He folded his arms, staring down at her.

"You need a hand?" he asked, before chuckling at his own pun, remembering his mask. "Heh."

She shook her head, slowly standing up. She was small; barely more than half of Tomura's height. Damn. What the hell did she eat, nothing? Tomura took a quick glance around the pipe and noted silently that may actually be a good thing. She stared up at him with those bloodshot eyes, swaying back and forth.

"If you fall over, I'm not catching you." Tomura warned, crossing his arms. "Come on. Shigaraki, portal for two. Meet us at the bar. And bring chocolate."

Tomura Shigaraki may not have been a hero, but he liked to think he was at least fair.

 **Caliban's Corner**

 **This chapter has only one 'part', since I wanted to give an update of some kind while I work on the real chapter four, which actually contains some real information and plot advancement. Consider this a sort of omen of things to come, I suppose.**


End file.
